Washington State Medical Board about average in its lack of enforcement of abusive Doctors - and that's terrible.

A 2017 - 2019 (published in March 2021) study found a "wide variation in serious disciplinary actions taken per 1,000 physicians across states and the District of Columbia, [making] it is clear that many, if not most, state medical boards are doing a dangerously lax job in enforcing their states’ medical practice acts.

 "There is no evidence that the observed differences in state disciplinary action rates can be explained by differences in the competence or conduct of the physicians practicing in the various states and, therefore, must be related to differences in how well or poorly the licensing boards adhere to their legal responsibility to protect the public from incompetent or miscreant licensees."

Low rates of serious disciplinary actions suggest that medical boards are not adequately taking actions to discipline physicians responsible for negligent medical care or whose behavior is unacceptably dangerous to patients. See the study Washington State ranked 29th. 

According to the report, one [inexcusable] problem is that the boards evaluate each complaint in isolation. They specifically do not look for repeat offenders. This may be because the boards largely operate to protect professional's livelihoods not the public. 

This study was cited in a Seattle Times article in 2020 titled: 

Discipline delayed: Washington state struggles to stop sexual misconduct in health care, leaving patients vulnerable 

That article dealt largely with the repeat abuse by a male massage practitioner. Licensed Massage Practitioners are the number one medical practitioners sanctioned by the Washington state Department of Health. Likely because the relatively low bar to admission into the field attracts predators, but it could also be that LMPs are also the lowest paid and therefore the least powerful medical professionals in the State. Though the public should be protected from all predators, the lack of discipline against medical doctors and psychiatrists is appalling. 

Despite our filing suit on behalf of injured worker Cheryl Riley and as I wrote about earlier: Dr. Douglas P. Robinson a physiatrist often hired by Washington State's Department of Labor and Industry (DLI / LNI) has continued to evade censor or any accountability for that matter despite numerous complaints. See the King 5 Coverage Here. and Lawsuit Here.